The Costa Coffee in Mapperley, Nottingham, opened on Friday. This is the place that needed a modest number of baristas, something like eight, not all of them full-time, and received 1,700 applications.

"It's pretty busy," understates Ghanshyam Ramparia, Costa's franchise partner in this area. (He has 11 branches  he goes by the name Sham). "The branch in Long Eaton had 900 apply for a smaller number of vacancies. But nonetheless " He tilts his head sideways, a subtle "this-is-crazy" expression on his face. "It's a barometer of the jobs market. It's really tough out there."

Applications included graduates, people with PhDs, people with firsts ("In the last six months, I've recruited four first class graduates. I feel for them: they might have been out of work for 12, even 24 months," Sham elaborated).

Other candidates had had 15 or 20 years' experience managing stores, or multiple stores, for large companies that had closed down. Some people did themselves no favours with their application: they failed to underline their passion for coffee, or they forgot to change the name of the job they were applying for on their cut-and-pasted covering letter. But even once you weed out those people, there is an inconceivably larger number of people looking for a job here than can ever actually land one; being overqualified is par for the course.

Charlotte Moran, a 20-year-old Costa customer, said: "I don't think it matters what qualifications you get: it's just who you know. There are no jobs anyway."

Glamorous industries have always seemed like that, with no discernible recruitment, no obvious entry level, everything powered by nepotism and coincidence, but it feels very new for the whole world of work to appear this way, as a fortress, looming but impermeable.

Costa Coffee is good coffee....better than Starbucks. When I was in England I stopped at one at a Service Area on the Motorway near Birmingham...interesting it was right across from a Starbucks in the same bldg. Good coffee....and I see why so many would apply

The good news here is that a significant number of people still want to work. Run a help wanted ad in an urban area populated by 4th and 5th generation welfare recipients and the number applicants can likely be counted on one hand.

6
posted on 03/04/2013 3:25:50 PM PST
by Soul of the South
(Yesterday is gone. Today will be what we make of it.)

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